The Return of the Dai Li
by Emmanuel Correa
Summary: A year after the end of the war against the Fire Nation, an old threat has returned and threatens the entire Earth Kingdom.


_**THE RETURN OF THE DAI LI**_

**Chapter 1: Prelude**

A year has passed since the death of Long Feng and the downfall of the Dai Li. Peace has returned to the great city of Bay Sing Se and the refugees from the war have left and returned to their former homes. The enormous walls that divided the rich and poor of the city no longer exist, and everybody is on equal ground. The war against the Fire Nation ended and the world has returned to the fairly tranquil state it was in one hundred one years ago. Ba Sing Se, the "Impenetrable City" has become the utopia of the Earth Kingdom. However, deep underground, in a room called the Chamber of Silence; the surviving members of the Dai Li plot their Revenge.

**Chapter 2: The Beginning of the End**

At noon, March 20, the Spring Equinox; Xiong Fu, the new Cultural Minister of the Dai Li prepares to speak

"Today is the day we have waited so long for! The day we will cast our first blow against the so-called "impenetrable city," and we shall begin our conquest of Ba Sing Se and the Earth Kingdom!" Although there are currently twenty Dai Li agents alive; not including Xiong Fu, the thunderous roar of the soldiers echoed throughout the chamber.

The Chamber of Silence was originally one of the several rooms where "enemies of the state would be hypnotized into compliance with the rules the Dai Li established during Long Feng's rule. Only the Cultural Minister and the highest-ranking agents knew the Chamber of Silence's location. Outside the chamber, was the rest of the Lake Laogai base. There, the Earth King's soldiers were at work emptying the former Dai Li headquarters; completely unaware of the treat lurking behind the walls.

That night, Xiong Fu gave the order to his agents to infiltrate the base and take out all the soldiers except their commanding officer, whom was to be brought back alive.

As the agents stormed out of the Chamber of Silence, Xiong Fu stood back, watching his men leave, with a sinister grin on his face. Before stepping out of the chamber, one agent; the youngest; turned his head to look at Xiong Fu one last time. Beneath the pale green glow of light, Xiong Fu's expression reminded him of Long Feng; the same grin, style of clothes, and his devilish appearance. Suddenly, his mind was full of memories from his own experience at Lake Laogai. Before he could fully recollect the horrible memories, he heard Xiong Fu's voice assertively tell him..

"Zixiao, the king has invited you to Lake Laogai." The young agent bowed to Xiong Fu, turned around and stepped out of the room.

**Chapter 3: Memories of a Lost Childhood**

As the battle between the Dai Li and the King's soldiers ensued outside the chamber, Xiong Fu sat down on an impromptu seat he earthbended. His grin grew larger as the sound of boulders crashing against the outside walls of the chamber reverberated through his mind. He grew excited as the screeching sound of stone projectiles whizzed trough the air. Then…it was silent.

This moment of silence brought memories of his clouded past, before the Dai Li. His mind was teeming with memories of his childhood earth village being burnt to the ground by the Fire Nation, the picture of watching his family be hunted down like hog monkeys brought about a cold, clammy sweat across Xiong Fu's face. As he attempted to look deeper into his past, he could only remember his childhood tragedy and his life in the Dai Li. A six-foot, two-inch man with long, straight hair in a single ponytail and thick sideburns down to his jaw, Xiong Fu is a cold-blooded monster who is willing to sacrifice anyone and anything for revenge.

**Chapter 4: Mind-Games**

Drying the sweat off his face, the front wall tore open and the twenty Dai Li agents marched through, dragging behind them a blindfolded man in an Earth Kingdom soldier's uniform.

"Sir, the Earth Kingdom soldiers have been eliminated, and we have brought their leader" stated an agent.

"Excellent, now leave me with him" commanded Xiong Fu; his smirk shifting into a bitter frown.

As the agents left the Chamber, Xiong Fu used his earthbending to tie a makeshift rope around the officer's forehead, hands and feet.

"Who are you? Let me go at once! You can't keep me here!" shouted the officer, trying to break free.

Xiong Fu stepped inside the large ring-shaped track and lit the candle that rested on the track. As the candle began to revolve around Xiong Fu, he began to speak in a soft, solemn voice.

"Calm down, you're safe now. Tell me your name."

"What are you doing? Move that candle away from me!" Gazing directly at the officer, Xiong Fu continued questioning him.

"Do you know who we are?"

"Of course I know who you are; you're a former member of the Dai Li! What are you trying to do, start a war against the Earth King?"

"There is no war in Ba Sing Se, here you are safe" insisted Xiong Fu.

I know that, the Earth King has gone to great lengths to maintain peace in the city." With the candle still revolving around Xiong Fu, the alternating shadows on Xiong Fu's face highlighted his wicked grin.

"Tell me; are you loyal to the Earth King?"

"Of course I am!" exclaimed the officer.

"Well, then I ought to let you know that…the Earth King has invited you to Lake Laogai." His eyes grew dark as his pupils unnaturally expanded. The officer looked as if he lost all sense of consciousness; his face emotionless. His pitch-black eyes fixated on the candle positioned motionless in front of him.

Monotonously, he replied, "I am honored to accept the King's invitation.

"Good" said Xiong Fu, as he faded away into the shadows.

**Chapter 5: A Plea for Help**

The next morning, the Earth King was woken from his slumber by a skinny messenger boy, to hear the news of the massacre at Lake Laogai. The King leaped from his extravagant bed upon hearing this, and charged down to the Council Room.

The Earth King's Council room was where the King and his generals would discuss city plans and any military concerns. The room itself was enormous; three hundred by three hundred feet in size; with a large, round table in the center with a three-dimensional map of the world. Around the room were various stone columns and the usual greenish lighting.

"What…How could of this have happened!" shouted the King.

"It was the Xiong Fu your majesty, the Dai Li has returned" stated General Fong.

"The Dai Li? That's impossible; the Avatar killed Long Feng a year ago, along with the other member of the Dai Li!"

"Your highness, apparently twenty one agents of the former Dai Li managed to escape and resurrect the organization" replied General Zhang. "And sir, there's one more, slight detail. They captured the leading commander of the Lake Laogai brigade and his whereabouts are currently unknown."

"I'm not surprised. If the Dai Li are up to their old mind games, then they probably already brainwashed the commander. However, we need to find out what they are planning before it's too late" stated the Earth King.

"Why don't we send in a massive strike force and bring them down?" argued General Fong.

"Because the Dai Li do not fight the way our soldiers have been trained to fight. The Dai Li are masters of stealth, and will most likely eliminate our soldiers our soldiers before they even have a chance to strike. There's only one person who can stop the Dai Li…the Avatar. Bring Aang to me at once!"

**Chapter 6: Return to Ba Sing Se**

At that moment, Aang was alone with Toph at Omashu helping reconstruct the city. Meanwhile, Katara and Sokka were back home at the South Pole visiting their father and Gran-Gran.

"Someone's coming…" Toph whispered.

"Who? Who's coming? I don't see anybody."

"I'm not sure, but it feels like a small group of men." Aang and Toph stopped what they were doing and faced the men behind them.

"Avatar Aang, it's a pleasure to meet you. I'm Commander Tzu."

"What do you need Commander Tzu? Is everything ok?" asked Aang.

"Actually Avatar Aang, things are not ok. Ba Sing Se is in the middle of a crisis and the Earth King wishes to speak with you in person."

"Can it wait? We're almost done here with the fixes in the city" replied Toph brashly.

"I'm sorry Miss Toph, but it cannot wait, the Earth King urgently needs to speak with the Avatar." Toph urged Aang to go ahead to Ba Sing Se.

"Go ahead Twinkle-Toes, I'll stay here and finish whatever's left to fix in Omashu."

"Are you sure Toph? You _do_ know you can come with us."

"I know, but you know I can't stand being in Ba Sing Se."

"Ok, if you really don't want to go. Let's go Appa, yip-yip!"

As Aang and Appa began their two-day flight towards Ba Sing Se, the Dai Li began their conquest of the Earth Kingdom. Already the Dai Li conquered the Eastern peninsula of the Earth Kingdom and the eastern buffer/agricultural zone of Ba Sing Se (the area between the inner and outer walls of the city).

"Excellent. Our plan is working perfectly. Soon we will have dominated the entire buffer zone and we will have the Earth Kingdom capitol surrounded."

"Uh, sir, there's a slight problem" warned an elite Dai Li agent hesitantly.

"What, what could possibly be a problem?"

"The Avatar sir, our spies have confirmed the Avatar is heading towards the city to speak with the Earth King."

Chuckling Xiong Fu replies, "What's your pint? He'll be flying over the buffer zone. And when he does, shoot down the bison."

The invasion continued and by midnight, the Dai Li. had captured the entire buffer zone of Ba Sing Se. The original invasion force of twenty agents has grown to two hundred in a matter of days, as earthbenders from outlying villages had been captured and hypnotized into service.

The fifth day of the war arrived and the violence temporarily ceased. Not a single soldier on both sides earthbended.

In the distance, parallel to the rising sun, a dark spot appeared, and was growing larger by the minute. A siren sounded on the outer wall and every Dai Li agent positioned himself to shoot down the Avatar and his bison. As Aang and Appa approached the outer wall, about one hundred meters away, they ascended up into the sky above the clouds. There, Aang told Appa to not move out of the clouds until he calls him.

Confused to what the Avatar was planning, the Dai Li agents, several hundred feet below Aang, looked up in disbelief as the clouds created a cyclone shape behind the Avatar as he plummeted toward the earth. The agents heaved piles of stone over their shoulders, preparing to launch them at Aang. However, before they could react, Aang plunged into the earth, quaking the ground in an enormous radius. As the agents attempted to regain their balance, they were catapulted into the air by the shockwave of wind the impact created. With no agents to slow him down, Aang sprinted towards Xiong Fu, whom only gave Aang a malevolent smile. Before disappearing underground, Xiong Fu warned Aang…

"This isn't over Avatar!" and he vanished beneath the soil.

Preparing to call down Appa, Aang was interrupted by a massive stone missile that barely missed him, grazing him in the face. Infuriated, Aang slammed his right foot into the ground and raised his arms. As he lifted his arms, the agent who had fired the missile looked down below him to see the ground tear open.

The other Dai Li agents were too far from Aang to fight, so Aang blew his bison whistle and called down Appa. They flew over the inner wall and safely entered the city of Ba Sing Se.

**Chapter 7: The Earth King**

Back on the eastern half of Ba Sing Se, the Dai Li broke through the inner wall and invaded the city.

As Aang and Appa entered the Royal Palace, and walked into the throne room. The King sat on his throne with his generals at his side, and their conversation began.

"Avatar Aang, thank you for coming to see me at such short notice. As you may have already noticed, we are under attack, once again. And we desperately need of your assistance."

"Yes your highness, but who were the earthbenders who attacked me between the inner and outer walls? They looked just like the Dai Li."

"That's because it _was_ the Dai Li who attacked you," said General Fong.

"That's impossible! I took out the Dai Li last year! How could they be back?"

The King responded, "Last year in your battle against Long Feng, about twenty one agents managed to escape."

"But, then why were there like a hundred agents outside the city? Where did _they_ come from?"

"Do you remember what Long Fend did to your friend Jet?" asked General Zhang.

"I'll never forget…" Aang replied solemnly.

"Well, the new Cultural Minister of the Dai Li, Xiong Fu, has invaded multiple villages in the eastern peninsula, and hypnotized the earthbenders there," said the Earth King.

"Your highness, I know what we need to do. We need a huge army and we've got to attack the Lake Laogai base."

"How can you be sure they are even there anymore?"

"I'm not, I…just have a feeling that's where they are."

"Well then, we attack at noon today."

Meanwhile, back at Lake Laogai, Xiong Fu addressed the Dai Li.

"Soldiers, this is our last stand. The Earth King is sending a massive invasion force to our location, along with the wretched Avatar. We will strike with a fury the Earth Kingdom has never witnessed! And as soon as we defeat them, Ba Sing Se shall be ours!" In the background, the soldiers cheered with great zeal.

At noon, the warriors of the Earth King arrived at Lake Laogai and were met face to face with the Dai Li, whom waited on the shore. Aang swooped down from above and blew a gust of wind that tossed several Dai Li agents into the water.

Thus, the battle for the future of the Earth Kingdom began.

**Chapter 8: The Final Battle**

Aang stood back as the Earth Kingdom soldiers battled it out against the agents. Each Dai Li agent molded missiles from stone to impale the soldier with, but Aang intervened. He ran in front of the soldiers, combined his earthbending and airbending, and created an enormous sandstorm, blinding the agents. The Earth King's soldiers launched boulders through the sandstorm toward the agents, and violently shook the ground within the storm. Then they stopped their attack and waited.

As soon as the sand settled, the soldiers were shocked to see they wasted their energy on nothing. Xiong Fu's agents were gone. Then, behind them, the soldiers heard an odd crumbling noise, and when they looked back, they saw the Dai Li phase through the dirt at a blinding speed. The Dai LI agents slammed the ground with their feet and moved their arms synchronously, in a wavelike motion. The earth beneath the Earth King's soldiers rumbled, and before they could counter-attack, the agents slammed the ground with their hands, sending an enormous wave of rock and dirt toward the soldiers, engulfing the King's men. Aang managed to leap out of the way, but was powerless to rescue the soldiers. The agents regrouped into their lines behind Xiong Fu and Aang landed in front of the Minister, shocked and enraged.

"Wha-what have you done! Where are all the soldiers?" shrieked Aang.

Xiong Fu replied with chuckling, "Heh, let's just say they've been grounded."

"And what is that supposed to mean? Where are they?"

"The Earth King's men are no longer with us." Xiong Fu saw the perfect opportunity to toy with the Avatar's mind, hoping he would be easier to defeat in a blind rage.

"Tell me young Avatar…do you know where your bison is?"

Aang's eyes grew large and tears filled his eyes as thoughts of what Xiong Fu could have done to Appa filled his mind.

The waters of Lake Laogai slowly began to rise and a powerful gust of wind whirled about; and Aang's eyes and tattoos began to glow a bright white light as he descended into the Avatar State. Realizing the horrible mistake he has made, Xiong Fu begs for mercy.

"Please Avatar Aang, have mercy on me, your bison-we don't have him, we never touched him!"

However, Xiong Fu's plea was in vain for the Avatar did not hear him. Aang stretched his arms sides and opened his hands. A fierce wall of fire, rising higher than the walls of Ba Sing Se rose, surrounded Aang and the Dai Li.

Aang charged at them, shouting at the top of his lungs, "Where is Appa? What did you do with him?" As he ran forward, the ground behind him tore open with every step, and a swirling vortex of water followed close behind. Aang hurdled over Xiong Fu, grabbed a hold of the wave of water behind him and lashed all of Xiong Fu's agents, flinging them over a hundred feet away. After knocking them all down, Aang hurled the wave of water at them one last time, freezing them all where they stood. The Avatar lifted the frozen bodies of the Dai Li agents and cast them to the dark depths of Lake Laogai.

Rejecting the thought of surrendering, Xiong Fu attempted one last attack against the Avatar. Xiong Fu fired a razor sharp stone spear toward Aang's head. Turning around to face the Cultural Minister, the Avatar spotted the spear heading towards him. Aang redirected the stone spear at Xiong Fu and struck him.

**Chapter 9: The End of a Legacy**

As Xiong Fu dropped to the ground, Appa flew down and landed in front of Aang, who returned to normal from the Avatar State. Aang ran to Appa and jumped onto his forehead, tears dripping from his eyes. The young Avatar, unable to accept what he just did, embraced his bison for comfort. In a somber tone, Aang whispered to himself…

"Never again…I will _never_ bend again."


End file.
